Domesticating the infrastructure

Helsinki spread through several bays, peninsulas and islands. Nowadays these are interconnected by an infrastructure designed and focus on the car that act as a border, dividing the territory.

The future masterplan of Helsinki proposes a new public transport ring, which connects the city with peripheral neighbourhoods.
The project thinks about this new transport way as an opportunity to rethink the future mobility of that place, giving to this ring a domestic character as a public place, connector and producer of activity. It allows the population to arrive and enjoy the beautiful places of the area, which at this moment, they can only be reached by car. Promoting a circular infrastructure that mixes different types of transport.
This is achieved through different actions:
Proposing intermodal nodes that allow to change type of transport and facilitate connections by tram, bus, bicycle and pedestrian way.
Producing activity domesticating the street, treating it as a meeting place where the car is not the main way of transport and whose neighbours can seize, using the public space to carry out ephemeral activities.
Designing the new boulevard to be energetically self-sufficient by introducing energy-producing elements. Producing its own energy that can be used in infrastructure elements. Thinking about a model that can be extrapolated to other infrastructures of the city.

Varying the boulevard section depending on the surroundings. Thinking in two different areas. On the one hand the areas in contact with the urban core allowing the transversal permeability. Unlike the peripheral areas where the speed of transport is prioritized ahead of the crossing.

Blurring actual boundaries made by the infrastructure treatment. When passing through the urban centres the road will be treated as a shared space, which favours the transversal connection, giving priority to the pedestrian and the flexibility of uses in moments of low traffic flow.

Introducing the character of public and flexible space within the buildings, creating common spaces in the form of galleries and proposing variable housing modules that can be converted according to the user preference.
The aim of this boulevard treatment is to tame the infrastructure, looking in the past the idea of an activity producer street and social exchanger, but projecting it while thinking about a constant change, considering the use of renewable energy, electric cars and future adaptability of spaces over time.